THE species of the Marmose, or Murine Opossum, ([fig. 132]) resembles that of the preceding; they are natives of the same climate and the same continent; they are very much alike in the form of the body, the conformation of the feet, in the tail, which is mostly covered with scales, except the upper part, which is hairy, and by the teeth, which are more numerous than in other quadrupeds. But the marmose is smaller, and his snout sharper; the female has no pouch under the belly, she has only two loose skins near the thighs, between which the young fix themselves to the teats. The parts of generation of the male and female marmose resemble, by their form and their position, those of the opossum. When the young are brought forth, and fix themselves to the teats, they are not so big as small beans. The brood is also more numerous; I have seen ten young ones, each sticking to a different teat, and the mother had four more teats, which made fourteen in all. It is particularly on the females of this species that the observations, recommended in the preceding article, should be made; as I am persuaded they bring forth a few days after conception, and that the young are only fœtuses which are not come to the fourth part of their growth. The mother always miscarries, and the fœtuses save their lives by sticking to the teats, and never leaving them till they have acquired the growth and strength which they would naturally have got in the womb, if they had remained until the proper period.
The marmose has the same manners, and the same inclinations, as the opossum; both of them dig burrows to dwell under the ground, hang by the extremities of their tails to the branches of trees, and rush upon birds and small animals; they eat fruit, corn, and roots, but they are still more greedy of fish and craw-fish, which, it is affirmed, they catch with their tails. This fact, however, is doubtful, and does not agree with the natural stupidity attributed to those animals, who, according to the relation of most travellers, do not even know how to move, fly, or defend themselves, with any degree of art.
FERNANDES is the first author who has mentioned this animal. The Cayopollin, says he, is a small animal, little bigger than a rat, very much resembling the opossum in the snout, ears, and tail, and which he makes use of as we do our hands; he has thin transparent ears; his belly, legs, and feet, are white. The young, when frightened, seize hold of the mother, who carries them up on the trees. This species is found on the mountains of New Spain. Nieremberg has copied Fernandes verbatim, without any addition of his own. Seba, who first caused this animal to be engraved, gives no description of it; he only says, that he has the head thicker, and the tail a little bigger than the marmose, and that though he is of the same kind he belongs to another climate, and even to another continent. He refers his readers to Nieremberg and Johnston for a further description of this animal; but it seems evident that neither of them had seen him, as they only follow Fernandes. Neither of these three authors say that he is a native of Africa, on the contrary, they assert, that he comes originally from the mountains of the warm climates of America, and yet Seba, without any authority, has pretended, that it is an African animal. That which we have seen certainly came from America; he was larger, the snout not so sharp, and the tail was longer than those of the marmose, and he resembled the opossum more even than the marmose does. These three animals are much alike in the conformation of their interior and exterior parts, in their additional bones, form of their feet, in being brought forth before their entire formation, their long and continued adherence to the teats, and in their habits and dispositions. They are all three natives of the new world, and of the same climate; they are never found in the cold regions of America, nor can hardly live in temperate climates. All of them are very ugly; their mouths extended like that of a pike, their ears like those of a bat, their tails like that of a snake, and their monkey’s feet present a very odd form, which is rendered still more disagreeable by their bad smell, and by the slowness and stupidity which accompany their actions and manners.